I go elk hunting over on the western slope in colorado every year during the late season, and every year a huge herd comes thru the area and it's just a slaughter fest. I had taken my cow from this herd for the last two years, but the next year I wanted more of a challenge. So my dad and I separate from the main road and we are on this dirt trail for a couple hours, and eventually we get to where we are starting to lose daylight, so we stop so my dad can look at the GPS so we can get out of there. While he does that, I start glassing the hillside, and I see about 7 cows towards the top of the mountain. We wait there and watch as more come over the top to join the first ones. We check them with the range finder and it doesn't even register, I convince my dad to let us peruse them, and eventually he lets me. So we run towards them till they start to notice us, so we get to the closest cover we find (which is just a wimpy little cedar tree. I rest my .270 on a branch while my dad ranges them, and it says 562 yards. He tells me to pick a cow, and I tell him which one, and he says to aim it's body height above it, so I pull of my first shot and the cow flinches, but we can't tell if I hit her or not, and the herd is moving now and I pull of a second shot at the same cow. This time the cow doubles over and falls dead. We get up to the cow and as we are gutting it we find the holes. They turned out to be 3 inches from each other and in the same lung. That is by far the best shot I have ever taken with my savage .270, used a 130 grain bullet.

I enjoyed your story , Where I am from that
shot would be almost impossible.Here in Virginia the terrain and foliage usually will give you maybe a couple hundred yards at a whitetail , I'm going to hunt in Wyoming in October for mule deer . I might get a long shot then , any suggestions ?

just got a binocular and rangefinder combo deal, Im thinking of carrying a 300win mag and a 280 Remington chambered mauser that I just put together. Both are very accurate and hopefully Ill get a shot!......LOUD

Oh either one of those will do just fine for a muley, I use my .270 for my last 2 and they ran about 50 yards before they went down. I think your hunt should go well, the challenge is now finding the deer.

I'd have to look really hard for a 500+ yard shot on any quarry here in WI. My average shot for deer is about 50 yards. I HAVE taken some shots that were over 200 yards but then I've also taken some at 10 yards. Most of the time you can't even see beyond 75 yards where I hunt.

Good shooting on your part though although at those distances maybe a .270 is a bit on the light side if that cow only flinched a bit with the first hit.

500+ yards resting on a branch? We end up with a lot of wounded & lost elk that way. What would you have done if the elk didn't fall over? Try those distances at a range & be sure to use a BIG PIECE OF PAPER. Only the first shot counts because they are usually moving after that. I have lived & hunted in W. Co. for 30 years. I use a .340 wby. but do not count on the power to make up for accuracy. My longest shots have been 430yds. from sticks sitting. It is easy to try long shots here but elk can go for ever when hit poorly.

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